Shui'eldt: OsrKOLO(;Y ok thk Fi.amixcoes. '.\0^ 



As I have said, the vomer is fused with the ])alatines, and it is no- 

 where closely in contact with any of the other l)ones of the skull. Its 

 free anterior end is pointed, and its inferior margin extremely sharp. 

 Indeed, this thin plate of bone is greatly compressed in the lateral 

 direction, while its body shows a large elliptical vacuity in it, just be- 

 neath the mesethmoid. This last-named element of the skull is much 

 thickened superiorly where it is greatly spread out beneath the frontal 

 bones with which it is indistinguishably coossified in the adult. Its 

 supero-anterior edge is transverse, being devoid of any projection, 

 and is found almost exactly beneath the line of the very firm and al- 

 most immovable cranio-facial hinge. 



A maxillo-palatine is a large, somewhat concavo-convex bone, that 

 exhibits an open spongy structure upon its external and convex sur- 

 face, but a smooth compact one upon its concave mesial aspect. Ex- 

 ternally, it fuses with the nasal, maxillary, premaxillary, and the ex- 

 treme anterior end of the palatine, while internally it most completely 

 coalesces across the middle line with the fellow of the o])posite side. 

 The maxillo-palatines of a Flamingo are decidedly anserine in char- 

 acter and do not reach back posteriorly to come in contact with the 

 entire anterior margin of the ascending process of the palatine, of 

 either side as they do in Ple}:;adis but never do in such a goose as Ber- 

 nic/a, for example. 



The mauiUble of Pha'nicoptenis is a truly elegant structure in bone, 

 and it further possesses a form that is (|uite unique among birds. Its 

 anterior half is bent downwards at an angle that coincides with the 

 decurvature of the upjjer jaw, but instead of this part being flat and 

 thin as in the case of the latter, it is vertically very deep at the point 

 of flexure, though it tapers off gradually towards the a])ex, and j)0s- 

 teriorly towards the rami. This part is moreover profoundly scooped 

 out internally where the surface is smooth and composed of a very 

 thin la\er of com|jact tissue. From the rami to the apex, the two 

 superior borders of this dentary part of the mandible are very consid- 

 erably rolled inwards towards the median plane. These inturned 

 edges, however, again gradually die out as we proceed towards the an- 

 terior tip of the bill, or upon the ramus upon either side. In a sim- 

 ilar manner too, the general concavity of this dentary portion of the 

 beak dies out gradually as we near the anterior apical extremity. Of 

 course this is not the case posteriorly where considerable depth is 

 maintained throughout. All over the enlarged dentary portion the 



